Ontario Raising Legal Aid Eligibility Threshold Another 6%

Province Giving More People Access to Affordable Legal Services: Ontario is taking another step to enhance access to legal aid by raising the financial eligibility threshold by six per cent.

By working together with Legal Aid Ontario, the province provides low-income Ontarians access to legal services in areas such as criminal, family, immigration, mental health and poverty law. Ontario’s 2014 budget committed to increasing the eligibility threshold by six per cent each year over three years. This increase marks the second threshold increase and a $31.5 million investment by the Province into the legal aid system for the 2015-16 fiscal year.

As a result of these two threshold increases, an additional 250,000 low-income Ontarians are now eligible to receive legal aid.